Qantas joins the jet age – Part 2

Eric Allen tells the story of how Qantas moved on from its turboprops to enter a new era of aviation. Read part 1 here.

The Qantas purchase of the Boeing 707 is unique among all acquisitions of a major jet airliner from a leading aircraft manufacturer. To arrive at what was a perfect solution for Qantas, Boeing showed determination in delivering a made-to-measure aircraft delivering the flexibility and capacity to cope with the demands of a route structure involving airports of varying capacities.

Although mention has been made of limitations of some Pacific airports, the runway facilities of the Qantas Sydney home base at Mascot at that time were also fairly limited. The maximum length on runway 07/25 was 7,898 ft (2,410 m) and on 16/34 5,500 ft (1,675 m) with a 200 ft (60 m) overrun at each end. The much-needed extension of 16/34 was still years away.